Greetings ~
Inappropriate use of suites at U.S. Bank Stadium government officials:
As I’ve shared with you in the past and the media has widely reported, there have been a number of abuses in the use of publicly owned suites at U.S Bank Stadium this past year.
The office of the Legislative Auditor released a report regarding the misuse of these taxpayer funded suites by officials of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. The audit uncovered that nearly half of the tickets for the suites went to family and friends of these officials, instead of the intended purpose of marketing them to private businesses. The marketing program was designed to help increase use of the stadium, which would help pay for the facilities upkeep, debt service and maintenance.
An interesting finding from the Legislative Auditor’s report stated: “The Authority’s (Minnesota Sports Facilities Administration) claim that it needs two suites rather than one is not supported by facts or logic.” “The Authority failed to comply with state law by not maintaining a record of who received tickets to its stadium suites.” “We concluded that the Authority’s use of the tickets violated a core ethical principle.” “Given these and other findings, we recommend that the Legislature exercise stronger control over the Authority and, specifically, its use of complimentary tickets to stadium events.”
The House of Representatives is currently working to reform the Authority to make them more accountable to the taxpayers of Minnesota. This sort of unethical and careless behavior cannot continue.
I will be holding an additional hearing next week in the Government Operations and Elections Policy Committee that I chair. Our goal is enact laws that will stop such abuses and restore the public trust.
Does the state of Minnesota owe you money?:
Each year, the Minnesota Department of Commerce receives millions of dollars in unclaimed property. The property is turned over to the state by businesses, banks, etc., as they are not able to locate the rightful owner.
The Department now has a program designed to find missing money and/or financial property and reunite it with the rightful owner.
Check out this link to see if Minnesota owes you money.
Clarifying Minnesota’s Intrastate Commerce Regulations:
The legislature is working on a bill that will provide clarity to Minnesota law relating to government control on mandating wages and benefits.
Currently, the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth are attempting to require businesses within these cities, or those who may have a passing business interest in the community to provide “city mandated” work leave benefits and report back the cities to provide proof of compliance with the city ordinances.
If local units of government are allowed to make such regulations, compliance and enforcement will be administratively very difficult.
Remember, there are 853 cities, 87 counties, and hundreds of townships in the state of Minnesota.
If each of them could set their own wage and labor regulations, it will be nearly impossible to manage and enforce such regulations.
St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce Event:
On Wednesday evening of this week, I attended the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce Evening at the Capitol. It was very productive and beneficial for me to be able to discuss important issues for central Minnesota with other local elected officials and business leaders.
Fun Fact of the Week:
On this day in 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt sailed from Miami, Florida to Trinidad. He became the first President in U.S. history to visit a foreign country during wartime. Also, in 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil, which became one of the largest and most profitable businesses in the world.
If you know of anyone who would like to receive future email updates, forward this email to them and have them sign up here. Also, if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact me at either 651-296-7808 or rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.
Sincerely,
